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Acts 7:5
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3 and said to him, a‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’  
4 Then ahe came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was bdead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.  
5 And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, aHe promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.  
6 But God spoke in this way: athat his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bbondage and oppress them four hundred years.  
7 a‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will bjudge,’ said God, c‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’  
8 aThen He gave him the covenant of circumcision; band so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; cand Isaac begot Jacob, and dJacob begot the twelve patriarchs.  

The Patriarchs in Egypt

9 a“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, bsold Joseph into Egypt. cBut God was with him  
10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, aand gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.  
Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
<< Acts 7:4   Acts 7:6 >>


Acts 7:5

And he gave him none inheritance - Abraham led a wandering life; and this passage means that he did not himself receive a permanent possession or residence in that land. The only land which he owned was the field which he "purchased" of the children of Heth for a burial place, Gen. 23: As this was obtained by "purchase," and not by the direct gift of God, and as it was not designed for a "residence," it is said that God gave him no "inheritance." It is mentioned as a strong instance of his faith that he should remain there without a permanent residence himself, with only the prospect that his children, at some distant period, would inherit it.

Not so much as to set his foot on - This is a proverbial expression, denoting in an emphatic manner that he had no land, Deuteronomy 2:5.

Would give it to him - Genesis 13:15. Abraham did not himself possess all that land; and the promise is evidently equivalent to saying that it would be conferred on the family of Abraham, or the family of which he was the father, without affirming that "he" would himself personally possess it. It is true, however, that Abraham himself afterward dwelt many years in that land as his home, Gen. 13, etc.

For a possession - To be held as his own property.

When as yet he had no child - When there was no human probability that he would have any posterity. Compare Genesis 15:2-3; Genesis 18:11-12. This is mentioned as a strong instance of his faith; "who against hope believed in hope," Romans 4:18.




Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Acts 7:5:

Genesis 12:1-9

 

<< Acts 7:4   Acts 7:6 >>

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